I cannot lie. I love food made with pumpkin! Pumpkin pie is absolutely my favorite kind of pie, but anything baked with pumpkin gets two thumbs up from me. I always buy the big can of Libby pumpkin in the store so I can make a couple of different recipes this time of year.

I did a search on the Libby website and found this wonderful pumpkin muffin recipe — and it is super easy. Instead of using oil in the recipe I substituted pureed cannellini beans, but you can use any white beans you like.

I drained the can of beans, saving the liquid, and pureed the beans in a blender. You might have to add a little of the liquid back into the beans if the pureed beans aren’t smooth.

Try substituting pureed beans to any baking recipe that calls for oil. If the recipe calls for 1/2 cup of oil, substitute it with 1/2 cup of pureed beans. You’ll cut the fat and make your muffins a bit more nutritious.

My husband is always skeptical when I use beans when I bake, but he loved these muffins!

Note: I used my antique Griswold cast iron muffin pan for this recipe, so I didn’t need paper liners.

Pumpkin Bean Muffins

Recipe adapted from Libby’s

Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 can (15 oz.) Libby’s 100% Pure Pumpkin (If using the 29 oz. can, the measurement would be 2 cups of the canned pumpkin)

4 large eggs

1/2 cup pureed white beans

½ cup water

 

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Paper line or grease 30 muffin tins.
  1. Combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Combine sugar, pumpkin, eggs, oil and water in a large mixing bowl and beat until well blended.
    mixing1

    dry ingredients

    pureed beans and pumpkin

    pureed beans and pumpkin

 

  1. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture; stir just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling 3/4 full. (I use an ice cream scoop to do this step.)

    Griswold cast iron muffin pan

    Griswold cast iron muffin pan

  1. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center of muffin comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire rack for 10 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. (I sifted some powdered sugar on top of the muffins as a final touch.) Store muffins in covered container or resealable plastic bags.

    Pumpkin bean muffin

    Pumpkin bean muffin